Do you charge for Quotes ?

[Dustydazzler]

I have done around 16 or 17 quotes in the last few weeks , some small jobs where the quote was literally hourly rate + materials so took 20 mins to type up and email.

But the other day I did a massive detailed quote after spending over 2 hours with the customer at the site. Full re-wire of existing house and massive extension. to type up the quote took over an hour and yesterday we did some alterations to the quote over the phone. So all in I have spent around 5 hours of my time. They even agreed verbally that the job was mine to start tomorrow.

Last night at 11.30pm I got an email saying they have gone with a cheaper quote. Goodbye

Sorry for the rant but that is 5 hours I have wasted and not seen a penny.

Should we be charging for time spent doing estimates and quotes ??

 

[JBW175]

I feel your pain, I’ve had a couple of rewires recently where they’ve gone with a cheaper quote, and I thought I’d been quite competitive on pricing too.

I had one job I went to look at last month where the bloke wanted to do the work (rewire) himself and me to sign it off; he even had the cheek to ask me for any tips I could give him on cable sizes and routing etc… needless to say he got nowt from me.

 

[LukeD]

What about broken appointments, they should be charged too.

Depends on what notice . But its all down to terms and condition ."Pimlico robbers" terms are unreal and they really do make a customer pay . Its all down to getting customers to treat you as a business rather than "good old Dave" etc and thinking they can walk over you .But at the same time , a trade has to also make sure they are on time etc for meetings and starting works etc!

 

[pc1966]

To some extent you have to just accept that making quotes and winning only a proportion is part of the cost of doing business. For a lot of jobs it is fairly simple and you don't spend too much time doing it.

If it is a big or complicated job then the approach suggested above of charging a nominal fee for your time, even say £25-50, that is deducted from the price if you win is one way to stop too much time-wasting. There is a big risk of them going elsewhere where they don't get charged to price it, so maybe worth considering how many invites to quote you really want/need, even though you probably stand a much higher chance of getting them if you do get a fee to quote.

Of course if all they want is a ball-park figure to budget you often can give a typical range with little input, but you have to be VERY clear it is not a firm offer and you would need to visit the site, etc, at a fee to give an accurate figure and check none of your assumptions about the property, type of supply, condition of installation, etc, were wrong.

 

[LukeD]

What about if the customer wants a detailed list of works with drawings etc ? What happens if they just wants all the info and then to find someone to follow your plan of works etc > ? !

 

[Dustydazzler]

What about if the customer wants a detailed list of works with drawings etc ? What happens if they just wants all the info and then to find someone to follow your plan of works etc > ? !

This is a bit like Free samples, if too many people take the p!ss then the free samples stop and become chargeable samples ?

 

[davesparks]

What about if the customer wants a detailed list of works with drawings etc ? What happens if they just wants all the info and then to find someone to follow your plan of works etc > ? !

If a customer wants design, paperwork, drawings, tender documents etc to be produced and supplied to them then that is a chargeable job in itself. You would give them a price to do the design and produce the paperwork.

 

[buzzlightyear]

If a customer wants design, paperwork, drawings, tender documents etc to be produced and supplied to them then that is a chargeable job in itself. You would give them a price to do the design and produce the paperwork.

God help the customer Teltex get, that be a smoke packet.

 

[pc1966]

What about if the customer wants a detailed list of works with drawings etc ? What happens if they just wants all the info and then to find someone to follow your plan of works etc > ? !

Exactly what @davesparks said - that is a specific job that needs to be charged for, just like an architect would do after contractual engagement for a project.

Most folks idea of a quote is no more than a list of equipment and labour costs, not a detailed design and documentation. I would expect most home jobs like a rewire or new circuit can be done with a basic list of rooms and points to be fed along with a brief consultation with the OSG to check cable length limits and CCC in the expected routes/methods. The results (cable chosen, estimated length, etc) would not be supplied at all, just maybe a pricing for X reels of 1mm, Y of 2.5mm, Z of 6mm or similar or more likely just an overall cost of cable.

Incidentally, how many folks would go down the per-point pricing model versus trying to estimate cable & accessory costs and time?

 

[Dustydazzler]

I only ever do a fixed per point pricing for new builds

Everything else is labour rate + materials

 

[Dustydazzler]

To add I haven't done a brand new build since Covid so haven't done a per point job in ages

I try to work out exactly what cable , accessories , board and lights the job requires add all this up and add labour rates + profit margin and admin fee and that is how I get my end price

All other work is hourly